A survey shows that more American opinion leaders view China as the United States' most important partner in Asia given the countries' trade relations, Kyodo News reported on Saturday.

When asked to choose "the most important partner of the United States" among Asian and nearby countries, 35 percent of 200 opinion leaders from a range of fields picked China, according to the survey by the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

The percentage of respondents selecting China was up significantly from 18 percent in the survey a year earlier.

Of those who saw China as the most important partner, almost four out of five cited economic factors, with 56 percent picking trade ties and 23 percent the country's economic strength, the survey conducted between December 2020 and January 2021 revealed.

Economic ties between the world's two largest economies deepened significantly after China's accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001, with their goods trade totaling $558.1 billion in 2019.